The Other Side
by Azura Nyx
Summary: Buffy and her Watcher are trapped in an alternate universe during summer vacation after a vampire attack in a museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Will they find a way out?
1. Introduction

**Title: **The Other Side

**Author: **Sarah Hegyi (a.k.a; Azura Nyx)

**Author's Email: ****  
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**Rating: **PG-13 or FRT

**Genre: **AU/Romance

**Spoiler Warnings: **This fic takes place after season 5, but events occur before season 6. However, there is a spoiler at the very end to the episode "Tabula Rasa."

**Pairings: **Buffy/Giles, Spike/Buffy (unrequited love)

**Characters: **Anya, Alexander Harris, Willow Rosenburg, Tara Maclay, Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers, Rupert Giles, and Spike

**Disclaimer: **The characters of "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" are those of Joss Whedon. No copyright violation intended.

**Summary: **Buffy and her Watcher are trapped in an alternate universe during summer vacation with the gang. Will they find a way to get out?

**The Other Side**

_Introduction_

"Oh my God," wearily expressed Xander as he leaned against the wall. "Isn't summer vacation supposed to be…I don't know… not about boring museums? We're in Buenos Aires, Argentina! Shouldn't we be at a beach, drinking margaritas and living it up? Remind me again why we let Giles pick the Evita Museum?"  
>Turning his head from one of Evita's artifacts, Rupert side-glanced towards Xander's direction. "You are aware that I can hear everything you're saying, right?"<br>Buffy grinned at her friends' statements, shrugged, and then answered, "Besides, it could always be worse."  
>"Yeah," Anya enthusiastically chimed in. "Some vampires could just start barging into the place, kill people, and then drink their blood."<br>Willow peered over toward her right at the ex-demon before sarcastically muttering, "Thanks for the grim imagery."  
>The shattering of glass rang through the halls. Items within the casings were being thrown, so Buffy, Willow, Dawn, Giles, Tara, and Xander ran to where the noise came from. People, obviously tourists, were lying dead on the cold floor. The rest of the vacationers who survived fled the scene and left the museum, screaming. It was obvious that vampires started raiding the place. Nearly half a dozen of them stood in front of Buffy and her crew. "Well, looks like this trip just got a lot worse," she said, getting in to fight mode. "Dawn, I think it's best you go with Giles and Tara. Get out of here!" The teenager tried to resist the former librarian's grasp, but failed miserably.<p> 


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

At first, Buffy and her crew were doing excellent at kicking some vampire ass. There were quite a few punches, staking, and impaling going on that worked…rather effectively. Some of the artifacts and windows would need to be restored once everything was said and done, but who ever claimed that saving a few hundred people came without a price obviously never had to re-kill the undead. Buffy took a few kicks from a tall, black-haired vampire before striking him in the chest, which only wounded the living dead creature and made him stumble a couple feet behind her. Thinking she took care of him, The Slayer had turned the opposite direction to attack another vampire who was coming at her full speed. However, the other vampire snuck up behind Buffy and tossed her into the mirror before she could even get one punch in. The mirror didn't break or crack. Instead, the glass rippled like water and firmly snatched Buffy into its abyss.  
>Willow had seen everything, crying out Buffy's name as it happened. She telepathically raised a wooden stake and killed the vampire attacking her before running to the mirror. The witch tried to jump into the portal, but it wouldn't let Willow do so. Cursing beneath her breath, she ran to Giles. He was standing outside of the museum to keep watch over Dawn as Buffy requested. "Buffy was pushed into a mirror, but it ended up being a portal of some kind. What do we do, Giles? We can't just leave her there!"<br>Rupert's eyes widened in anxiety. "Both of you take care of Dawn," he began. "I'll see if I can go after Buffy."  
>"It's no use," Willow shouted. "The portal wouldn't open for me, so I don't think it'll work for anyone. We might not have much time. There must be another-."<br>"I have to try for myself anyway," urgently interrupted Giles as he ran into the museum. Rupert gently touched the glass of the mirror, and it rippled like it did when Buffy fell through. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then went through the portal.


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

The landing wasn't smooth whatsoever. Giles moaned in agony as he cussed at the heavens. He moved his leg and found, luckily, that it wasn't broken. In fact, Rupert began to wonder why his legs weren't even sprained. He peered about the room. It was surprisingly beautiful…very much like the Evita Museum except opposite. All the colors of the room and artifacts were different and upside down. Giles's forehead skewed in bewilderment. He was certain this realm would give him a severe migraine once…if Buffy and him succeeded at returning home.  
>"Is everything alright," a familiar voice asked.<br>Giles turned around and sighed in relief. "Thank goodness you're alright," he exclaimed, hugging Buffy. "Let's find a way out of here. There must be…a hatch…a…something-"  
>"'Out of here,'" curiously repeated The Slayer, releasing herself from the man's embrace. "Since when have you wanted to leave? Are you feeling okay, Giles?"<br>"Oh, God," Rupert expressed with comprehension at last. "Y-You're not Buffy."  
>The Slayer narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What? How could you say that? Of <em>course<em> I'mBuffy!" The woman tried taking him by the hand as she worriedly continued, "That's it. I'm taking you to the hospital, Giles. You must be smoking too many of those drugs again."  
>"Drugs? I beg your pardon," furiously spat Rupert as he yanked his hand from the alternate reality Buffy's grasp, which was still keenly strong. "I've done no such thing ever since…well...that's not information you need to know about, really."<br>"Look here," alternate Buffy started as her voice clearly indicated anger. "You are getting in the way of my slaying by running around here like a chicken with its head cut off. If I have to ruin another very expensive pair of Gucci shoes or break one of my recently manicured nails to fight disgusting vampires like you've trained me to do, the least I can expect is not making a pest of yourself."  
>Another familiar voice chimed in, "Wait a sec! You're telling me you actually wear Gucci shoes as you're fighting vampires? Any slayer with the least amount of intelligence wouldn't do that."<br>"Oh, good lord," exclaimed Rupert. "You're alright. Tell this…other Buffy about what happened to us!"  
>The real Buffy explained to her alternate self, "We come from another reality. There was this mirror in our dimension and we sort of…fell through it."<br>"Um…what do you mean by 'another reality?'"  
>"It's where everything is different from this dimension," the real Buffy said. "I guess you could say it is completely opposite."<br>"Oh! So…like…there's no Gucci or Armani stores, and Mr. Giles here doesn't smoke pot? I wondered why he was all prim and proper!"  
>Rupert and the Buffy from his reality looked at one another, and then returned their attention back to the other Slayer. "Oh, God! I think seeing myself talk like that destroyed nearly everyone of my brain cells."<br>"Agreed," Giles muttered under his breath.  
>"Oye," the alternate reality version of Rupert began. "What's up with these two imbeciles, Buffy? Why aren't you slaying them?"<br>The alternate Buffy explained, "Well, they claim to be us from another…dimension…or something."  
>"Is that right," alternate Giles replied, who stared at his other self and began laughing uncontrollably.<br>"What's so funny," the actual Rupert inquired.  
>"You're so…lame," alternate Rupert obnoxiously declared as he took a drag of his cigarette. "I bet you were a librarian in your reality or something like that. What do you do for fun, mate? Read and drink a cup tea in your secret, cozy hide-out? Good lord! This is bloody hilarious!"<br>The real Giles could take a lot of humiliation, but this set him on the edge. It was hard to keep his patience. "Oh, really? What do _you_ do for fun? Let's talk about that. You probably get drunk and stoned every night you can, and then shag a girl or two for a one night stand. What a productive, responsible life!"  
>"I shag a lot more girls than you probably ever have in your entire life. By the way, you can guarantee my life is a lot more interesting than-"<br>"Shut up," both of the Slayers yelled.  
>The real Buffy pinched the bridge of her nose. "So… I guess the first question to ask here is: how do I and the Giles from my reality get out of this dimension?"<br>"Well, you guys dropped out from the mirror above us. Maybe if you two go through it, you'll return home," suggested the alternate version of Buffy.  
>Actual Rupert nodded, and then mentioned, "Right. The only problem is that we don't climb ceilings."<br>"You don't have to," answered the alternate Giles. He snapped his fingers, which made the entire place shift over.  
>"So, tell me," the real Slayer mockingly began to her alternate self. "Is this how you fight vampires too? Do you just snap your fingers, and they fall over dead?"<br>Ignoring the other Buffy with clear aggravation, she merely responded, "Whatever. The mirror is over there."  
>Giles, the actual one, motioned for the Buffy from his dimension to stay where she was as he checked the mirror. "There is an inscription on it of some kind. It's in Spanish."<p>

_**La clave es mirar, La clave es aceptar.**_

"Do you understand it," asked the real Buffy. "If not, we're screwed because I took French in high school."  
>The actual Rupert squinted at the writing on the mirror. "Yes. Yes, I do. It means, 'The key is to look, the key is to accept.'"<br>"Good work! Score one for Library Boy, here," a very sardonic alternate Rupert indicated as he took a hit from the cigarette.  
>Frustrated, not only about what his alternate self said, but with his stupid interruptions, the real Giles snatched the cigarette out from the other Rupert's lips, threw it to the ground and extinguished the flame with his foot. "Damn it! Those things will kill you…er…me. Stop it already!"<br>"'The key is to accept,' remember," replied the alternate Giles. "Just accept the fact I'm better than you, and both of you can be on your way."  
>The ex-librarian stared in deep thought for a moment, which only made the Buffys' concerned.<br>"What are you thinking," the actual Slayer inquired.  
>"I think the alternate me is right."<br>"About him being cooler than you?"  
>"No. Good Lord! Of course not. He's correct about returning to our reality. You see. I can't believe I'm about to acknowledge this, but the reason I can't stand my alternate self is because I used to be like him. All of my weakest personality traits are combined into him."<br>The real Buffy narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Giles, if that's true, then my every weakness is designer clothing and being a total ditz." She paused, looked at her alternate self and implied, "No offense."  
>Grinning slightly, the real Giles responded by implicating, "I think it goes a little deeper than that, Buffy."<br>"Okay…so… what is my weakness, then," the actual Buffy inquired.  
>"That's for you to discover. I can't help because…well…I'm not you," apologetically responded the actual Rupert.<p> 


	4. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

Both of the Slayers looked at each other. The real Buffy was attempting to figure out what bad characteristic her alternate self possessed that she did as well. Could it be her naivety? No…because Buffy over came that more as she got older. Would it have anything to do with materialism? No way! Buffy didn't care a whole lot about having things. She was a very giving person, in fact. What slayer would have a choice otherwise? They give of themselves to protect the world.

Thought after thought plagued her mind, but nothing appeared to shine through. It's not as if Buffy thought she was perfect. She was very aware of the fact that she possesses bad traits….

Randomly, the alternate version of Giles suggested, "We're wasting our time just standing around here. How about the two of you and I leave the other Rupert behind and go have some fun. What do you Buffys' think of that?"

"Eww," both of the Slayers exclaimed in disgust.

"You're old," the alternate Buffy added. "How old are you again? You're like…over forty."

Real Buffy nodded in agreement. "I agree. That's kind of gross!"

The alternate version of Rupert was quite upset at this point. Not by the fact the Slayers disregarded his idea, but how either of them could be so close-minded. "That's not what you said to Angelus," he remarked. "Vampires live a long time, remember? Angel was how much older than you when the two of you dated? Just because he didn't look a day over 30 doesn't excuse it either!"

Abruptly, a weird silence fell upon everyone until the actual Buffy chimed in, "Hold on. Are you saying my weakness is being close-minded…just because I'm not in love with Giles?" Neither the other Buffy nor the Giles' would answer that question, which forced the woman to continue in frustration. "Well, that sucks for me! I don't have feelings for him that way and I probably never will, so I'm stuck here."

"He's not _that_ bad, you know," the alternate version of Buffy implied. "There were a few times I wouldn't have minded-" The real version of herself glared at her, which made the alternate Buffy quickly end with saying, "Forget it."

"Buffy," the real Giles nervously entered into the conversation. He walked to his Slayer and was getting closer to her, stressing the importance of the discussion. "I'm not asking you to love me this way, but… for both of our sakes, it is imperative you tell me the truth. Do you have any feelings for me? I mean, more than just friends?"

If it was possible, the real Slayer became even more irritated. She didn't want this talk to happen now. It wasn't how Buffy imagined it to go if she ever did tell him. "Damn it, Giles! I don't know. Maybe. It's…a little confusing."

Being kind, the actual Rupert nodded and sympathetically replied, "Okay. You don't have to answer hastily. Take your time and think it through. I'm willing to wait."

Of course, this didn't sit too well with the other Giles. He rolled his eyes and said in obvious aggravation, "Good God! You really are a lame prat! If you're not going to do it, then I will." The alternate version of Rupert grabbed the real Buffy close to him and kissed her on the lips. Once they were done, the alternate Giles said, "Mmm…now, I know you would be lying if you said you didn't enjoy that, love." The actual Slayer hit the guy across his face, and then yanked the real Giles up from his seat. Buffy kissed him passionately on the lips. She didn't want this to end. If truth be told, neither of them did. Rupert pressed the Slayer up against the closest wall and rested his hand on the woman's waist. He began once again by kissing Buffy on the mouth, but then steadily moved to her neck and left shoulder. The facial expression on her face was clearly that of enjoyment...until the Slayer opened her eyes and discovered they were back in their reality. Everybody; Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya, Dawn and, evidently, Spike decided to stop in to help too, witnessed the intense make out session between Giles and Buffy. Not a single person out of that group appeared unsurprised.


	5. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

"Well," began Spike. "Just when I think I've lived long enough to see everything, it turns out I'm wrong."  
>Anxiety came over both the Slayer and her Watcher and they separated each other from their embrace. "I-it's not what you think," Buffy lied, tying to start by covering up her tracks. "I was having trouble breathing, so-"<br>"There's no need to hide the truth, Buffy," implied Willow. "It's really no surprise."  
>Dawn, who didn't know whether or not to be horrified or disturbed, responded to Willow's statement by inquiring, "It isn't? Speak for yourself. I think I'm more petrified than I ever have been in my life!"<br>Attempting with his entire being to change the topic, Rupert implied, "So… anyway, I take it that you all were able to get rid of the vampires and lead most of the other tourists to safety?"

"Yeah," agreed Tara. "We needed more people after you and Buffy went into the portal, so Will and me teleported Spike here. Luckily, nothing went wrong in conjuring the spell. I tried persuading her otherwise, but…it was a dire circumstance."

Smiling, Giles and the group began walking out of the museum. "Well, Xander, I think that beach and margarita idea sounds like a plan now. I could use a drink."

The Slayer grinned as well as she teasingly insinuated, "Just so long as you don't give in to the things your alternate self did."

Xander, Tara, Spike, Dawn, and Willow all stopped in their tracks on their way out of the museum. Each of them looked confused by Buffy's statement. It turned out that Will had been the first to speak up by asking, "'Alternate self?' You mean, there was another version of Giles through the portal?"

"Yeah. Well, you see, there was an alternate me there too," Buffy started to explain. "Anyone who falls through the mirror does. The key to getting out was recognizing your personal flaws through your alternate self."

Anya looked at Rupert, and then asked, "Okay. My ex-demon brain doesn't understand this. Giles makes mistakes? Since when? Oh! It could be that time you accidently put that one book called _The Dark Arts of Magical Creatures _under the 'T' section of the library instead of the 'D.'"

"You'd be surprised," muttered the ex-librarian with a skewed grin.

Out of curiosity, Spike wasn't able to refrain himself from sardonically commenting, "What had been your flaw, Buffy? Let me guess: it took a couple tries to finally get Mr. Prim- and- Proper here to snog you correctly."

Usually, the Slayer was able to take a lot of crude remarks. Buffy didn't care for Spike to begin with and that alone made her patience very skim with the British vampire, so she slapped him across the face as hard as she could. "You can just leave now, Spike."

"Oh, c'mon," he pleaded. "I was only kidding. Besides, you can't just toss me out when I helped kill my own kind to save a few tourists along with all your sorry asses."

Even though what the vampire said had been true, Buffy didn't care. She really didn't want to have a pest hanging around at the moment. "Go away," the Slayer angrily ordered again. Without uttering another word, Spike reluctantly went his separate way from the group.


	6. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

A week passed since Buffy and the gang returned from Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was night time and the Slayer went out patrolling alone with her Watcher at the cemetery. Things had been a little awkward between them since they first kissed. Even though they tried to avoid the topic and persuaded themselves it meant nothing, Buffy and Giles were both very aware the opposite was true.

"Do you sense anything unusual," queried the ex-librarian.

The Slayer was clearly absentminded while strolling around the cemetery with Giles because she implicated in reply, "Huh? No, not at all! I mean, we're still just friends, right? You're my Watcher and I'm your Slayer, but that's all. It was a thing between you and me that simply…happened. That's it."

Successfully attempting with great effort not to laugh, the Watcher asserted, "I was referring to demons and vampires, Buffy. Do you feel their presence at all?"

"Oh," began the Slayer, who wasn't feeling any demons and vampires lurking about, just a little more than dumb for her previous remark. "Um…n-n-no. Not yet."

Giles and Buffy discovered a wooden bench only a few feet ahead. Both of them chose to sit there for a while to conserve energy in case anything does stop in to attack.

A long silence fell upon them, longer than usual. There generally had been _something _the two of them could discuss. The quiet didn't sit well with Rupert, so he started by mentioning, "You know, Buffy, what we did…it's nothing to feel strange or ashamed of. Things like that happen from time to time, but don't let it affect the Watcher-Slayer relationship we already have."

In all honesty, that's exactly what the Slayer wanted. She liked Giles…as more than her Watcher, mentor, and friend. Buffy started to have feelings for him a while ago, but was able to make them subside. They resurfaced back once she and Giles shared something together in that way and it hadn't been anything the Slayer wanted to let go of. The memory was too…precious.

"I know," wearily replied Buffy. It was difficult for her to choose whether or not to tell him what her real feelings were about it, or not. Considering what Rupert implied in his previous statement, however, the Slayer decided to just drop the subject all together and rest her head on the man's shoulder. Buffy was tired, so she eventually fell asleep after closing her eyes. Giles drifted off as well not too long afterward.

Abrupt noise within the cemetery made Buffy stir awake. She looked to her right and saw the Watcher hadn't even been disturbed by the sound. The Slayer peered down at her watch. She had only slept for an hour! Quickly, Buffy grabbed her stake and walked around the cemetery. She followed the strange, rustling noise until it led her to….

"Spike," exclaimed the Slayer in astonishment. "What in the hell are you doing here?"

The vampire took one last drag from his cigarette before tossing it to the ground. "Do you really have to ask that question? Hello! Vampire…cemetery…dead people."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just…get lost. I have more important things to slay."

"…and cuddle up with, apparently," retorted Spike in disgust.

"_What?_ If you've been spying on me, I _will _stake you without hesitation."

"Relax," coolly answered Spike. "I don't need to spy on you and Mr. Ex-Librarian to know you two were holding each other while sleeping. It's obvious how you feel for the bloke. I just can't understand why."

The Slayer narrowed her eyes in pure aversion. "There's nothing between Giles and me. We kissed, but it's never going to happen again. By the way, I know what you meant by that statement. You're wondering how I could tolerate kissing Giles, but not you."

"Bravo," the vampire cynically exclaimed. "Now that you've figured it out, why is it you can snog a dull man like that idiot, but not me? At least I would bring some excitement to the picture."

"Do you _really _want to know, Spike," Buffy dared as she stood closer to him. The vampire didn't say a word. He did nod in affirmation, however. "Unlike you, he's a gentleman."

She began walking away from Spike when he angrily replied, "Is that right? You're telling me that proper gentlemen leave behind someone they care about, then?"

Buffy paused, and then turned around to face the British vampire once again. "What are you saying? Giles hasn't left me."

"No, but he will…in time. C'mon! Do you honestly believe the guy will stand by your side forever? Help you stake vampires and demons? I'm glad you had enough brains to choose not to date him because guess what, Sweetheart: he's no different than Angelus or Riley. Your Watcher will leave you too one day."

The Slayer didn't say a word. She merely glared at the vampire in repulsion, and then went to find Giles, who happened to finally be awake from his nap.

"Oh! Buffy. Is everything alright? Did you slay anything," the Watcher tiresomely asked.

Buffy helped Rupert up from the bench. "Almost," she responded. "The vampire got away, but I realized it wasn't worth chasing after him. Let's go. I think we both deserve some more rest."

At a distance, Spike had been observing Buffy and Giles leaving the cemetery. He lit up another cigarette before mumbling to himself, "…and when he does leave, you'll come running to me."

**The End**


End file.
